FRIDAY FILE – From 20-22 March, about 250 people, largely from civil society organizations (CSOs) and another third from other stakeholders such as the United Nations (UN), gathered in Bonn, Germany for an international conference on Advancing the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda.

FRIDAY FILE - As the World Social Forum in Tunis wrapped up, many agreed that the vitality of the older days of the Forum was back. Taking place at the Al Manar University in Tunis, amidst the still unmet calls for dignity and justice of the Arab uprisings, it gathered about 54,000 people who were united in their hopes for a better world.

By Shareen Gokal

FRIDAY FILE - In December 2012 the United States Senate failed to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Esmé Grant[i] from the United States International Council on Disabilities (USICD) talked to AWID about why it failed and how they are committed to ensuring the CRPD will be ratified in 2013.

By Rochelle Jones

AWID spoke to Maya Alvarado, Executive Director of Unión Nacional de Mujeres Guatemaltecas (UNAMG) about the historic trial in which Guatemala’s former dictator and chief of military intelligence are charged with genocide and crimes against humanity, the first such trial to take place in the Central American country.

FRIDAY FILE - Women human rights defenders (WHRDs) work under precarious conditions, often putting their lives in danger as they defend and protect women’s economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) across the globe.

By Katherine Ronderos

FRIDAY FILE - After a five-year-long case, a Dutch Court has held the Nigerian Subsidiary of Shell responsible for the pollution of farmlands in Nigeria, marking a victory in the struggle against the oil company that has been at the centre of environmental concerns in Nigeria for over 40 years.

AWID interviewed Caroline Usikpedo, the National President of the Niger Delta Women’s movement for Peace and Development (NDWPD), for a women’s rights perspective on the ongoing struggle against the oil giant

By Rochelle Jones

FRIDAY FILE - The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 57) ended last week Friday with an Agreed Conclusions document acknowledged by many as fair and balanced, and “an important step forward” to addressing violence against women and girls (VAWG).

FRIDAY FILE - Deciphering U.S. federal budget negotiating -- let alone from a gender perspective -- is no easy task. Fortunately several women’s rights organizations are doing just that. AWID interviewed Joan Entmacher of the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) and Radhika Balakrishnan of the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) at Rutgers University to help us unpack the rhetoric and decode what U.S. federal budget negotiations mean for women’s rights.

FRIDAY FILE: A unique ‘aggregate analysis’ of the Dutch MDG3 Fund, conducted by AWID, with input from 33 fund recipient organisations provides a unique opportunity to highlight the broad range of multi-sectoral strategies that organisations are using a to tackle gender based violence (GBV) and the importance of continued and sustained funding for the work they do.

By Gabriela De Cicco and Srilatha Batliwala

FRIDAY FILE: AWID takes a look at what is at stake with this year’s priority theme for the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 57) that will take place at United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York from 4 to 15 March 2013 - the Elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls.

By Susan Tolmay